The Pound of Baskerville
by im-not-crazy-most-of-the-time
Summary: Sherlock and Joan find themselves on a case of mysterious animal attacks near the abandoned, and supposedly haunted, Baskerville Pound. (Based on The Hound of the Baskervilles).
1. Prologue

I didn't like having to take the road past the old, abandoned Baskerville Pound, it's always dark and eerie and there's that stupid ghost story that hovers around it. "Jesus Daniel, it's just a stupid story." I muttered to myself out loud. The Curse of the Baskerville Pound, the ghost of a demonic hound that had to be put down. I know it's stupid, but there's always that little voice in the back of my mind saying "it's real, it's real..." I remember when I was a kid, everyone used to sneak into the old Pound on a Friday afternoon, and then chicken out less than a minute later when we heard the wind get too loud.

Suddenly I heard a branch snap somewhere from behind the rusted chain-link fences of the abandoned Pound. My entire body jumped in full-on alert mode. It took me a second to calm down and nervously laugh it off. But that was when I heard the ear piercing howl behind me and was ripped to shreds.


	2. Chapter 1: Initial Thoughts

"His name was Daniel Fry. Usually goes home by a different route, but the road was blocked so he had to go down this path. Unfortunately, this would be the supreme case of 'wrong place, wrong time.'" Captain Gregson explained. Joan examined the body while Sherlock examined the surroundings. "It looks like an animal attack of some sort, so no murderer we're looking for. A bear would be unlikely, the nearest forest is miles away." Joan declared.  
"Also because of the dog-prints around the scene and dog hairs on the body." Sherlock stated as he beckoned Gregson and Watson over. "This attack occurred about twenty meters from the legendarily abandoned Baskerville Pound. I would suggest it is not a coincidence."  
"Only a dog? That doesn't make sense though. Look at the body, he's been practically butchered." Joan pointed out. "But Watson, look at the bite marks specific to a dog. Note the smaller size of the bite and the tooth marks that were clearly evolutionarily crafted specifically for eating meat. There is a dog involved here, but I doubt that the dog is the real cause of death. What you said before about there being no murderer to look for Watson... Well, I think Daniel was knifed as well." Sherlock spouted.

A few hours later, Joan sat at the kitchen table on her laptop and watched Sherlock as he set up a pin-up board. "This attack has been one of nine animal attacks within a five mile radius of the Pound in the past six years, also they all happened between the hours of six and eight. However, this one is the most daringly close to the pound." Sherlock explained as he pinned up a photo of the mangled body of Daniel Fry. "Unfortunately, we can't do anything until the Captain finishes writing up the warrant except further examine the evidence we've already found." Sherlock complained. He picked up the picture of the dog-print and then his phone buzzed. Sherlock took a second to think before he read the text aloud. "Captain Gregson has sent us the DNA results for the dog saliva and dog hairs on the body. As it turns out they are specific to a bullmastiff which is known for it's aggression, which is quite unfair really. I had a neighbour back in London who had a bullmastiff, lovely dog. Occasionally I'd take it for walks, good exercise."  
"Sherlock, back to the present."  
"Right. Bullmastiff dogs often respond aggressively to people they don't know which is why they're so popular as guard dogs."  
"Hold on, I think I may have found something..." Watson exclaimed. Sherlock quickly pinned up the item he had in his hand and then joined Watson at the laptop. "What is it?" Sherlock inquired.  
"I just looked up all the previous victims on FaceBook for any unclosed accounts, and they've all had a connection to the Pound. Two of them worked there, four of them gave their pets into the Pound because they had difficulty taking care of them. Wait... Look at this status from Daniel's page a few years back. 'gotta hand max to baskerville pound, keeping an aggressive bullmastiff in check is just getting too much! :( i'll miss ya buddy!'"  
"So, as it turns out, Daniel did know 'Max'."  
"In which case, why did Max attack Daniel? Wait... Sherlock, you said there were nine attacks."  
"There were."  
"No, there were ten. Nine deaths, ten attacks. One of them is still alive."


	3. Chapter 2: The Survivor

Denice was in her 30's, but looked younger. Sherlock looked around the room to pick out anything. There was a picture of Denice and her poodle, Twinkie on the mantelpiece. There was also a picture of Twinkie as a small puppy on the bookshelf which had far too many books squeezed in. She started to tell her account. "I just heard this... Barking from behind me. I recognised Twinkie's bark instantly, but then he just started biting me... And then a man came up behind me and started swinging this knife around. So I ran and called the police, like anyone would. Unfortunately, he was never caught."  
"Did you see the attacker's face?" Joan inquired.  
"No, he was wearing a balaclava."  
"Can you tell us anything about him?" Joan persisted.  
"No, sorry."

Sherlock examined the picture of Denice and Twinkie. "Why did Twinkie end up in Baskerville?" he asked. Denice paused and swallowed before continuing. "She got lost about a year before the pound closed down. Luckily, I went there the next day and found her there. Then about a month later, I noticed her getting more and more aggressive. If I took too long to give her her dinner, she'd starting snapping at me. So, when the Pound had about three weeks before it was closed down, I gave Twinkie to them again and didn't see her again until the attack." Sherlock looked around the room again, his eyes kept stopping at the bookshelf. He glided over to it quickly and ran his hands along the tops of the books. Denice looked panicked, "I think you need to go now."  
"Come on Denice, we only just got here. Tell me about this bookshelf. How old is it? When and why did you get it? Which book opens the secret door?"  
"Get out of my house or else I'll call the police."  
"We are the police." Sherlock's hand stopped at one book. He looked at Denice with an expectant smile, not moving his hand. Still looking at Denice, Sherlock pulled back the book. The bookshelf slid sideways slowly, and there in the space where the bookshelf was, a man was chained to a chair with ripped clothing and scars on his body.

"Anthony was the real reason for Twinkie being taken to Baskerville. They had been struggling to make enough money to keep caring for the dog, so Anthony gave it in. Denice has since been keeping him barely alive just enough to torture him, and in the words of the walls of his cell, 'like the way Twinkie was', which doesn't sound so menacing when you add the dog's name."  
"Sherlock, why was Baskerville closed in the first place?" Joan asked.  
"Come on Joan, surely you know the old ghost story of the Baskerville Pound?"  
"No, because I don't spend my free time arguing with conspiracy theorists on the internet."  
"Baskerville Pound was closed on charges of animal torture in strange experiments. In this sort of case, usually the remaining dogs would be put down just before the closing of the Pound. However, at the last minute, every remaining dog was purchased by one mysterious buyer. Unfortunately, the doctor who was revealed to be the main perpetrator of the torturing, Dr Jack Stapleton, also disappeared somewhere around the same time. So, popular speculation is that he was the one who bought the dogs and to this day continues his sick experiments." Sherlock explained.  
"So, what's the ghost story?"  
"The ghost story is that the ghosts of the dogs who died in the experiments stick around the Pound and are ready to seek revenge on anyone who goes near."  
Gregson chimed in, "Well hopefully we don't encounter them in the search of Baskerville Pound."  
Sherlock then speculated, "But is it the ghost of the dogs, or Dr Jack Stapleton?"


	4. Chapter 3: Into the Pound

Captain Gregson knocked on the door of the abandoned Pound with Sherlock and Joan beside him. "Hello?" Captain Gregson bellowed in his grumbly New York accent. "Looks like no one's here." Joan said quietly. Captain Gregson tried again.  
"This is the NYPD, open up or else we will force our way in!" Sherlock tapped Joan on the shoulder and whispered, "Do you notice anything strange Watson?" Watson took a quick look around.  
"What is it?" Sherlock started gesturing towards the nearest row of houses.  
"Where are the children? Wouldn't you expect to see them playing outside? Or in the very least, watching T.V.? But they're not, are they?" Joan looked closer at the row of houses and saw at the windows of every house, there was a pair of eyes fixed on the door of the Pound. "They're watching us."

Sherlock knelt down at the door and picked the lock in a matter of seconds. The lock clicked and the door swung open slowly. Sherlock stared into the darkness. "Well. The truth awaits." Captain Gregson turned on a torch and the three made their way through the green lino-floored corridor slowly. They came to the first door on the left, Captain Gregson opened it. The door made a loud creak that echoed through the walls loudly. As Gregson went to burst in, Sherlock placed his hand on Gregson's shoulder. Gregson turned towards Sherlock. Captain Gregson asked in his constantly condescending voice, "What? Are you afraid of ghosts or something?" Sherlock gestured down the corridor. Gregson turned and shone his torch to see a skinny German Shepard aggressively staring at them. The dog snarled, then barked loudly and angrily. The bark echoed loudly and didn't stop echoing for what seemed like hours. The mangy dog snarled one last time, then whimpered and then ran away. Sherlock spoke loudly, "Follow that dog."

The three chased it through the corridor of the Pound, the voices of dogs howling loudly surrounded them. The German Shepard ran into a door at the end of the hall, the three followed it and the door slammed shut behind them. Captain Gregson shone his torch around the room, the torch beam stopped on a small pack of dogs eating a corpse. Joan cautiously walked over to the body and ruffled the pockets, taking out a wallet with a key card. Joan read the name on the card. "His name was Dr James Wilson, this is a key card for the local veterinary center. This could be a lead, we'll look it up."  
"Captain, if I could have your torch for a second?" Sherlock beckoned with his hand. Gregson handed over the torch. Sherlock shone it at the ground to reveal dusty footprints leading towards, and then away from the body. The ones leading away were spaced further apart. "Captain Gregson, order your men to set up a perimeter. The suspect was here when we entered the Pound."


	5. Chapter 4: Following A Lead

"Split into pairs and find the suspect now!" Captain Gregson barked at the police team.  
"Watson, come with me." Sherlock and Joan took off. "He went this way, note the broken sticks and leaves on the ground." Sherlock told Joan, pointing at the ground whilst running. "There!" Sherlock spotted a figure in the middle of a field. Sherlock wolf-whistled loudly and a police car revved into place, cutting off the assailant. Captain Gregson burst out of the car, pistol in hand. "Put your hands in the air and get on the ground! You're under arrest for the murder of Dr James Wilson!" The assailant did as Captain Gregson said and Gregson cuffed the masked man.

Once back at the station, they unmasked the assailant to reveal it was in fact Dr Stapleton's wife. Sherlock seemed uneasy though. Sherlock and Joan then went home, where Joan questioned Sherlock about his behaviour at the police station, to which he replied, "It's not her. She's just a pawn in a much larger game Watson." So, business as usual. In the following weeks, Sherlock didn't focus on any new cases, he let Joan 'practise her skills'. Then, Sherlock remembered the key card found at the scene. Sherlock insisted that Watson come with him to investigate the veterinary center, but she was working on a case involving a vandalism of some Napoleon statues, so Sherlock went solo to the vet.

Sherlock walked up to the desk and asked the man at the desk if he would allow Sherlock to investigate the lead. The man, who introduced himself as Jeff Solomon, allowed Sherlock into the archives. Sherlock looked over all the history of the staff members to find anything he could that could trace them to the Baskerville case. When Sherlock went back to the apartment with Watson, he explained his findings. "3 staff members came from the Pound originally, however, they were the ones proven innocent and unaware of the criminal actions."  
"So the vet was a dead end then?"  
"It would appear so. Damn! I was so close Watson, I could sense it. It was like he was right under my nose!"  
"Do you want to help me on this case?"  
"No Watson, the last thing I need at this point is a distraction. This case, is still fresh, it is not closed yet and another attack is imminent!" Sherlock's phone rang. He practically ripped it from his pocket and attached it to his ear. "What is it?"  
Captain Gregson's voice then replied, "You were right Sherlock, the Baskerville case is not closed, there's been another attack, with some very interesting evidence arisen.  
"What kind of evidence?"  
"Footprints." Captain Gregson replied quickly.  
"Man or woman's?"  
"Neither."  
"A dog's then?"  
"Not just any ordinary dog Sherlock. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound."


End file.
